Tech lobbyists’ new mantra: Strength through unity

SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley CEOs re-engineered lobbying 15 years ago. Their invention, TechnNet, which brings members of Congress out to meet celebrity tech execs — and their checkbooks — is no longer seen as doing enough to deliver the goods, some say. Neither are the other tech lobbies.

Tech companies nearly lost a battle with Hollywood over online piracy on the Hill this year. And their other pet issues — more immigration of high-skilled workers and a tax holiday for overseas earnings — have gone nowhere.

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TechNet member CEOs are now in the throes of deciding whether to merge with a more traditional Washington lobby, the Information Technology Industry Council, to push their agenda the old-fashioned way: by strength in numbers making the rounds in D.C.

“In order to strengthen our voice, we realized we could be more effective in joining with other organizations doing the same thing,” said Kim Polese, a startup founder and CEO of such companies as Marimba and SpikeSource who also is a member of TechNet’s executive council. “Our mission is too important not to have the maximum resources and a unified voice.”

Some tech leaders are pushing for a single organization to represent the gamut of tech companies, which ranges from hardware manufacturers to Internet companies to mobile app developers, similar to the Motion Picture Association of America and PhRMA.

Others say it’s time for tech to have its own super PAC or start a marketing campaign to better tell its story to the public and the Hill.

“Grouping matters when it comes to defending ourselves against bad actors in Washington, but it doesn’t matter so much as effective messaging,” said Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, which is a TechNet member. “People in tech need to learn how to frame, build and deliver brief, to-the-point messages.”

What’s clear is that the tech advocacy landscape is shifting — and the online piracy battle in Congress in January was like a magnitude 7.6 earthquake.

While Internet companies used an online blackout and a grass-roots campaign to halt the Stop Online Piracy Act copyright bill, the tech industry recognizes it nearly lost the battle. No one group led the charge.

“What I do know is that more voices from the Valley and NYC need a seat at the table, not just the old guard, like the rise of grass-roots organizations that played a big role with SOPA,” said Ron Conway, a prominent Silicon Valley investor active in the stop-SOPA effort.

More recently, the tech industry stopped pushing tax repatriation — which would involve bringing overseas profits into the U.S. at a lower tax rate — after it was clear Congress would never pass such a bill in economic hard times. Immigration reform, a tech industry priority for more than a decade, has also frustrated tech leaders as the years pass with no action.

“I have long believed there are too many technology trade associations in D.C.,” said Carl Guardino, president and chief executive of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. “Multiple organizations can have the effect of diluting, rather than strengthening, the tech agenda for America.”

Bringing industry players under one lobbying roof is daunting because the business models of a Google is completely different than that of a Cisco or an IBM. The companies with businesses that do overlap are battling it out in the marketplace, making it hard for any trade association to take stands beyond advocating for better science and math education. The trade groups also have to contend with the reality that some companies join for defensive purposes to make sure competitors don’t use the group to bash them.

But TechNet’s and ITI’s strengths could be helped by a merger, supporters said.

TechNet’s leaders said they initiated merger discussions out of a desire to strengthen the tech industry’s advocacy.

ITI, with a strong policy operation, and TechNet, which has focused on campaign fundraising and engaging chief executives, are expected to announce this week a team of five people from each organization to analyze the prospect of merging. TechAmerica, another group, has pitched itself as a possible suitor but isn’t involved in current talks.

“This is a strategic inflection point,” said Rey Ramsey, CEO of TechNet. “It’s healthy to take a step back and think about what’s working, what’s not working and what can be done differently and even asking what shouldn’t be done.”

A combined ITI and TechNet would marry policy, lobbying and access. ITI is well known in D.C. for its lobbying and depth on the issues. TechNet, with strong ties in the Valley, has pioneered a very successful tour for politicians that combines visits to company offices with fundraisers at the homes of prominent CEOs.

TechNet was founded in 1997 by a group of wealthy tech executives — including Cisco CEO John Chambers and venture capitalist John Doerr — who sought a renegade approach of operating outside the traditional lines in Washington. Instead of pilgrimages to the Hill, trade groups, government affairs satellite operations or lobbyists, they wanted to bring politicians into the Valley to meet everyone from CEOs on down to the coders who sleep under their desks as they invent the future. Their approach was bipartisan and aggressive.

TechNet was going to “change the way people think about politics,” Wade Randlett, a TechNet co-founder, was quoted as saying in the book“How to Hack a Party Line,” which chronicled TechNet’s early history.

Not everyone agreed with what they saw as a “pay to play” setup and an effort to “normalize” relations with Washington.

The group became known for helping certain politicians raise cash, hosting fundraisers at the homes of Doerr, Chambers and others. In 2000, TechNet’s PAC raised nearly $200,000. Since its inception, it has given $1.4 million to candidates. Recipients have included Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), and Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo, both California Democrats, as well as the Republican Party of California, according to records from Sunlight Labs, the tech arm of the Sunlight Foundation.

The Silicon Valley tour became incredibly popular: Lawmakers from the GOP Young Guns to little-known candidates have donned bunny suits to enter an Intel clean room or written a message on Facebook’s headquarter walls or been passengers in Google’s driverless car.

Despite the photo ops and the boost to campaign coffers, tech chief executives have a litany of complaints about how their issues have fared in Washington. However, they do count some measures as wins, including passage of spectrum reform, new free-trade agreements and the opening of markets in China.

By the mid 2000s, TechNet CEOs realized that their approach wasn’t working — they started to feel as though they were just an ATM with no impact. TechNet moved its headquarters to D.C. in 2005 to try to gain more influence in Washington.

But interest in campaign 2012 has been lackluster. TechNet’s political action committee has raised less than $40,000 so far this year, according to OpenSecrets.org.

That number doesn’t reflect TechNet’s main role, which is to organize and host fundraising events. More than $2 million has been raised for candidates and campaigns at more than 70 TechNet events nationwide this year, according to TechNet’s internal numbers.

The churn comes at a time when the tech industry is not only one of the few bright spots in the economy but has also increased its presence in D.C. with lobbyists, new government affairs hires and company PACs. That’s why many advocate combining their lobbying might. There is frustration, too, among the companies about having to pay dues to multiple lobbies and whether there are better ways advocacy dollars can be spent.

“Some people think we should be in our ghettos of interest, but I think innovation is larger than that and getting the innovation leaders together to speak to our political leaders is something in this country that is waiting to happen,” said Michael Timmeny, vice president of corporate government affairs at Cisco.

ITI, founded in 1916, has deep roots in Washington and is known for its extensive lobbying work. It is not as well known in the Valley despite the fact that many of its 49 members are Valley firms. The groups have an overlapping membership of about 20 companies, including Cisco, Intel, Oracle and Microsoft.

Recently, the two had started to move into each other’s lanes, with ITI bringing lawmakers to the Valley and TechNet hiring a lobbying firm. “They were on a collision course,” said one observer.

Combined, TechNet and ITI will be “a strong organization, and a great step forward in tech’s Washington evolution,” said Joshua Ackil with Franklin Square Group.

In the coming weeks, the two will host joint meetings to analyze a possible deal.

ITI CEO Dean Garfield warns that a combined organization isn’t enough. “The sector and its leadership must be invested in Washington and other global capitals,” he said. “If we don’t have commitment from C-level executives, we can’t achieve our goals. It’s not a silver bullet.”

Technet has just alienated tens of thousands of skilled immigrants from around the world by pushing HR3012. HR3012 is a zero sum immigration bill that would vastly increase the number of immigrants from India getting green cards each year while greatly decreasing green cards for immigrants from every other country of the world. Technet got into bed with Immigration Voice who acted like a bunch of amateurish clowns, alienating everyone they possibly could within the immigrant community by pushing a purely selfish agenda with no regards for other current or future immigrants.

Perhaps Technet leaders should be a little more careful about how they push their agenda, and who they ally themselves with. Pushing an unpopular and selfish agenda is bound to bring failure, even if you have deep pockets.